Friday, 25 November 2016

The 1987 film is a
story within a story, de Jong said, with a grandfather reading a story about
pirates and princesses to Fred, his grandson, who is sick in bed. As the story
ends with the good guy dying and the princess marrying the evil prince, Fred
protests.

“Grandpa, you read it
wrong!” he says. “That can’t be how it ends! She can’t marry the prince. She
doesn’t love him. And what about Westley? He can’t be dead!”

De Jong said the movie
scene shows that we all have a pretty good idea of how stories should end. “There
should be triumph, right should conquer wrong, the hero should get the girl. We
know a good ending when we see one.”

De Jong’s final
message during Spiritual Emphasis Week 2016 focused on the final chapter of
Jeremiah, which, like the story in the movie, had a similarly bad ending. The
king is still in captivity, the country is still under foreign occupation and
the people are still exiled.

The last few verses of
Jeremiah 52 end with forgotten King Jehoiachin being released from prison and
dining at the table of the invading king.

“Still an exiled king,
still technically a prisoner. Eating fish and dates and drinking wine with the enemy
until the day he dies,” de Jong said. “If I was an Israelite, this would seem
like an unsatisfactory ending to me.”

After chapters and
chapters of God warning the Israelites of the consequences of their
unfaithfulness, of capture, exile and occupation, and of God’s promise of
restoration, the ending seems anti-climactic and unfinished. And that’s not the
only unsatisfactory story we see. We turn on the news and see stories of
out-of-control wildfires, villages being bombed, racist attacks or children
sold into slavery by their impoverished parents. We look around us and see
cancer, family breakdown, or parents who lose their jobs.

Like the people of God
at the end of Jeremiah, we are “still in limbo,” she said.

De Jong said the story
of Jehoiachin dining at the king’s table is an example of “anamnesis” and “prolepsis”
– Greek words for lived memory (anamnesis) and lived future (prolepsis). A modern
example of anamnesis and prolepsis would be turning up the heat and having an
impromptu Hawaiian party in the dead of winter, complete with barbecued food,
flip flops and dance tunes. The party is both remembering what summer feels
like (anamnesis) and a bold declaration summer will come again (prolepsis).

That’s what is
happening at the end of Jeremiah. The writer is emphasizing that despite his
captivity, Jehoiachin is still the king of Judah and he is still in the lineage
of David – and Jesus.

“And though captive,
we see a glimpse of what things were like before – fine clothes, good food and
a seat of honour,” she said. Jehoiachin is acting out a memory of the time when
God’s people lived in God’s favour.

These verses also
represent an invitation to all of us to live into God’s promise, she said.
Jehoiachin’s dinners at the king’s table are a reminder of God’s promise of
another king, and indeed, Jehoiachin is mentioned in Matthew 1 in the genealogy
of Jesus.

“For the people of
Israel, hope looks like King Jehoiachin eating at the table of the king,” she
said.
For the people of God, in all times and in all places, hope still looks
like a table – a communion table or a library table or a classroom table.

“It’s all the places
and times we gather together and offer love and courage and hope to each
other through our small acts of service and love,” de Jong said. “We are the
body of Christ and we remind each other that God is faithful.”

“God is faithful, and
the end of the story is a good one,” de Jong said, because God is good and he
loves us. Even when we mess up, run away or yell in anger, God loves us, and
invites us to live in the goodness of his new creation. Even if things are
going wrong, we get to practice the end of the story.

Whenever we, as
Christ-followers, act out the ending and live the goodness, joy, peace and
love of the Kingdom of God, we are showing the world and each other how good it
will be, de Jong said.

“That’s what hope
looks like.”

DeJong said she had a great week at Smithville Christian, and took a selfie with the school.

Spiritual Life Director Gord Park prayed a prayer of thanks and blessing over de Jong as she finishes her studies at Calvin Theological Seminary.

"God's word came through you to us," he said. " You revealed Jesus to us."

Click here to read more about where Laura de Jong's been and where she's going.

* * *

A student praise team led in worship with "Love Come Down," "Holy (Wedding Day)," and "I'm Not Ashamed." We are so blessed by the musicians and AV technicians who make worship possible every day during Spiritual Emphasis Week. Join us for chapel every Wednesday morning -- everyone is welcome.

The book contains descriptions
of things Christians do that might seem baffling to others, she said. Side
hugs, knowing how to avoid being asked to lead a group prayer, leaving room for the Holy Spirit at a high
school dance or using a Christian pick-up line like: “I was reading through the
Book of Numbers and realized I didn’t have yours.”

Sometimes these things
are funny but often they make no sense to others, de Jong said. That is what
was happening in Jeremiah 32. The prophet was asked to do something – buy his
cousin’s field – that made no sense.

Jeremiah had run afoul
of the king and was under a form of house arrest, the Babylonian king was about
to invade and make the land worthless, yet Jeremiah obeyed God and fulfilled
the Israelite custom of redeeming a family member’s property.

But Jeremiah’s “nonsensical
economic exchange made a bold statement about the future,” de Jong said. The Israelites
were in trouble, but Jeremiah’s purchase “was a concrete, tangible sign of
hope.”

There are more things –
not in the coffee table book – that Christians do that do not make sense to the
rest of the world, she said.

They believe that to
receive, they must give.

To gain strength they
must surrender.

To succeed they have
to learn to fail.

To find themselves
they must lose themselves.

To fulfill themselves
they must forget themselves.

To live is to die to
self.

To be first is to be
last.

They give away 10 per
cent of what they earn, they spend hours a week in church, and look for answers
to today’s problems in a 2,000-year-old book.

Sometimes, she would
prefer to focus on clothes, music or popularity instead of a relationship with
Jesus, de Jong admitted.

“I want to fit in to this me-first, celebrity-driven,
power-hungry world.”

But it’s better to live
more like Jeremiah.

“We are people who
anticipate a future beyond the realities of this world,” she said. “We know
that the day is coming when the backwards, upside-down kingdom of God” takes
over and makes all things new.

“We live in the hope
of a fully restored earth, a new creation.”

Until then, we live as
“already, but not yet” citizens of a kingdom, opening ourselves up to the power
of the Holy Spirit, and living not for personal advancement or fame but in
order to tell the whole world that there is hope.

* * *

A student praise team
led in worship with “We Were Made to Thrive,” “Multiplied,” and “Come as You
Are.”

Spiritual Emphasis Week concludes with a final chapel on Friday at 9
a.m. and a concert at 1:15 with FM Reset. All are welcome.

More about Laura de
Jong

Laura de Jong grew up in St. Catharines,
and attended Beacon Christian High School. She studied History, English, and
Congregational Ministry Studies at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan,
where she also led worship and worked in residence life. Laura is finishing up
her Masters of Divinity at Calvin Theological Seminary, and hopes to do church
ministry after graduation. She's a staunch defender of all things Canadian, is
enjoying finally learning how to cook, and believes next year belongs to the
Blue Jays.

To contact Laura de Jong or to find out more about where she's been or where
she's going, check out LauradeJong.

Wednesday, 23 November 2016

Spiritual Emphasis
Week speaker Laura de Jong has spent the past seven years living in the USA,
where she says she has endured every Canada joke and Canadian stereotype “known
to humankind,” she said.

“For example, what do
the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Titanic have in common?” de Jong asked. “They
both look good until they hit the ice.

“Or, how do you get a
Canadian to apologize? Step on their toe.”

Speaking at the
Wednesday chapel at Smithville Christian High School, de Jong said her experience
of living in the USA is similar to what God’s people were experiencing in the
time of Jeremiah: they were aliens, living in a strange land.

De Jong outlined the
story of the Babylonian conquest, of the exile of the people, and of Jeremiah’s
surprising prophecy – found in Jeremiah 29. Instead of prophesying his normal message
of doom and gloom, Jeremiah tells the people to settle down, get married and
plant gardens.

“You are here for the
long haul,” de Jong said Jeremiah told the people. “Get comfy.”

And don’t just worry
about yourselves, de Jong said. “Seek the peace and prosperity of the city, for
if it prospers, you prosper.”

That message was
shocking to the Israelites because they preferred to see their captors as the
enemy and themselves as victims, she said. But God had a different message. He “wanted
his whole world to flourish.”

Like the Israelites in
Babylon and like de Jong in the USA, “we are also people living in a land that
is not our own,” de Jong said. At our baptisms or dedications, we became citizens
of the kingdom of God, making us “resident aliens” of the places we now live. “We
are citizens of heaven, this is not our home.”

But just as the
Israelites were to seek the peace and prosperity of their city, we are to do
the same. We can’t live as if we’re waiting for heaven, or put all our effort
into getting to heaven, or sit back and hide out in our comfortable, Christian
huddles. The water of baptism signifies that we have been washed, and sent out to
get our hands dirty, not to feel superior and think we have it all figured out.

Like genteel society
woman, Frances Perkins, who turned a tragic 1911 New York City factory fire into a
lifelong mission as a labour activist to improve worker safety, we are to work
for the benefit and blessing of those around us, de Jong said.

“We are marked out for
heaven and thrust into the business of earth.”

De Jong invited students
and guests to come forward to dip their hands into a basin of water,
representing the cleansing water of baptism, and to take from the bowl a pebble
to remind them of their city. She asked them to reflect on the corner of their
world – sports team, or family member, or co-worker or friend – for whom they could
be praying.

“We are not here to go
to heaven,” said Spiritual Life Director Gord Park. “We are here to bring the
kingdom of heaven to earth.”

* * *

A student praise team
led in worship with “Stars,” ”We Believe,” and “This is Amazing Grace.”

Spiritual Emphasis Week continues with two more chapels: Thursday morning at 9:30 and Friday at 9. Guests are always welcome. Students are also participating in daily discussion groups, meeting with translators who speak Korean and Mandarin, and visiting the prayer room. The week will close with a Friday afternoon concert by FM Reset.

To contact Laura de Jong or to find out more about where she's been or where she's going, check out LauradeJong.

Tuesday, 22 November 2016

Speaking during the
second chapel of Spiritual Emphasis Week at Smithville Christian High School,
de Jong said when she was a young girl, she thought she'd much rather be
Scottish.

"I watched Scottish dramas on BBC, listened to Celtic music and, when I was 12, I even
started learning Gaelic," she said.

But de Jong's
attitude toward her ancestry changed after she spent a summer in The
Netherlands.

Guided by maps,
photographs and directions given to her by her father, de Jong retraced the
steps taken by her grandparents and great-grandparents, visiting the villages,
attending the churches and listening to the stories that had shaped her roots.

"Through these stories
I discovered who I was,” de Jong said. “My family's history became my history. "Now I am wholly
and unapologetically Dutch."

DeJong said stories
"shape our identity. They remind us who we are and where we came
from."

The Israelites had
stories too – of how God had chosen them, rescued them and protected them. Yet,
by Chapter 2 of the Book of Jeremiah, "they had stopped telling their
stories."

They had forgotten
who they were, and even worse, they had forgotten who God was. They began
worshipping the gods of their neighbours.

De Jong said we might
think that we would never do such a thing, but we live in an age where it's
very easy to become confused about our identity.

"Today, belief
is simply one option among many," she said, and even people who call
themselves Christians are often content to put God in a neat Sunday box.

It's also easy to let
our identities be shaped by how others see us, or to believe our culture’s messages
that we can create our own identities, she said.

"You do you,
YOLO, it's your party, express yourself."

When what you wear or
who you're dating or your personal self-fulfilment become more important than your
commitment to something because it's right, you are in danger of forgetting
your story, de Jong said.

God’s message to the
Israelites is harsh: he accuses them of making his heritage an abomination and
warns that even their children’s children will suffer for what they have done.

But God doesn't stop
there. Jeremiah's message, as harsh as it seems, is actually a reminder of
their story.

"God offers
them, and us, a way back,” de Jong said. In reminding them of the story of God’s
love and faithfulness, Jeremiah reminds us too.

And God’s story of
grace in our lives isn’t always dramatic or shocking.

“God extends his
grace to us in the humdrum things we do, day in and day out. This is good news,
friends. God’s grace is everywhere and grace comes to us as we tell our
stories.

Our story is that we
are beloved children of God, forgiven and made new. How popular we are, or who
we are dating, or whether we are a homebody or an adventurer does not matter.

“Our story is not
about reputation or earning a place. Our story is a gift.

“God loves you and
that is who you are.”

* * *

A student praise team
led in worship with “Awake My Soul,” “Heroes,” and “Beautiful Things.”

Spiritual Emphasis Week 2016 features chapel every morning at 9 a.m. (Thursday at 9:30), extended time for daily devotions and discussion, a prayer room and a Friday concert featuring FM Reset. Everyone is welcome to chapel.

To contact Laura de Jong or to find out more about where she's been or where she's going, check out LauradeJong.

Monday, 21 November 2016

Jeremiah was just a
teenager when he was tapped by God for a difficult job, students at Smithville
Christian High School were told.

Speaking at the first chapel of Spiritual
Emphasis Week 2016, speaker Laura de Jong read Jeremiah 1 and said Jeremiah’s response to God was
that he was not up to the task.

Just as de Jong, a reluctant runner, did not feel she was capable of running a half-marathon, Jeremiah
did not feel he was capable of being God’s agent of doom to an audience of
people who would definitely not want to hear his bad-news message, she said.

God’s people had
broken their covenant with God and their near future included only death and
destruction, de Jong said. But over Jeremiah’s protests, God’s response was “trust
me. I got this. Just do it.”

What does that mean
for us?

“Most of us are not
called to be prophets in the traditional sense,” de Jong told students, “but
all of us are called to be disciples.”

And just as de Jong
accepted her friend’s challenge, downloaded a training app and bought new
running shoes, Jeremiah did the things God told him to do. De Jong followed the
app’s instructions, improved her stamina in small doses, and finished the race.
Jeremiah obeyed God and confronted the powerful leaders of his day with the
prophecies of impending disaster. But luckily for Jeremiah, he didn’t need an
app or a six-point plan “because God was in control, not Jeremiah.”

Today, discipleship
might require us to be counter-cultural, to remind people that they can’t buy
happiness, that they can’t secure their safety or position at the expense of
someone else, or that the people who think they have power or influence are not
really in control because God is, she said.

“This is hard to do,”
de Jong admitted. “It’s not going to make you popular or make you friends in
high places.”

It’s also hard to do because
it doesn’t always seem like God is in control, she said. There are conflicts on
a global level, refugees fleeing their homes, ecological destruction,
environmental disaster, starvation, parents who divorce, friends who have car
accidents, sickness and uncertain futures after high school or post-secondary
studies.

Yet it would be worse
to think that we are in control, de Jong said, to think that we can rely on the
latest smartphone, clothes, friends or career path.

“There is very little
direction when following God’s plan, no charts or six-point plans for success,”
she acknowledged. “But the beauty of God is that he is God and we are not.”

Twice God assures
Jeremiah that he will be with him, and the same is true for us, even if we feel
inadequate.

“God is with us and we
are with God,” she said. “We don’t need to figure it out or have a plan or know
how it will work out. God has the plan and we only need to run the distance that
is needed for the day – walking if necessary.”

Sometimes, God’s
provision is best seen in hindsight, she said. In Jeremiah’s case, we know how the story
ended, that God rescued his people and sent a prince who died and rose again to
save the whole world.

“We have a God who
says ‘you are with me, I’ve got this,’ “ de Jong said.

“So lace up your shoes and follow.”

* * *

A student praise team led in worship with "Build Your Kingdom Here," "Good, Good Father," and "Holy (Wedding Day)."

Chapel continues every morning this week at 9 a.m. (9:30 on Thursday). All are welcome.

* * *

More about Laura de
Jong

Laura de Jong grew up in St. Catharines,
and attended Beacon Christian High School. She studied History, English, and
Congregational Ministry Studies at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan,
where she also led worship and worked in residence life. Laura is finishing up
her Masters of Divinity at Calvin Theological Seminary, and hopes to do church
ministry after graduation. She's a staunch defender of all things Canadian, is
enjoying finally learning how to cook, and believes next year belongs to the
Blue Jays.

To contact Laura de Jong or to find out more about where she's been or where she's going, check out LauradeJong.

Sunday, 20 November 2016

Smithville Christian
High School’s annual Spiritual Emphasis Week runs from November 20 to 25, and features guest
speaker Laura de Jong, a graduate of Beacon Christian High School and of Calvin
College, and currently a seminarian at Calvin Theological Seminary.

To prepare students
for what lies ahead, spiritual life director Gord Park led chapel with a meditation
on this year’s spiritual life theme – living in the light.

In John 1:4, Jesus is
described as the “light of all people.” Yet in Matthew 5:14, Jesus tells his
listeners that they are “the light of the world.”

What’s with that? Park asked. “Is Jesus confused?”

The answer is that if
we are the light of world, it’s because of Jesus, Park said.

“You can’t make yourself
the light of the world.” In 2 Cor. 4:6, Paul wrote that God “made his light
shine in our hearts,” and in Philippians 2: 14 we are told that we can “shine
like stars in the sky.”

Park lit a lantern and dimmed the lights.

“That is a picture of
discipleship,” Park told students -- something both incredibly simple and incredibly beautiful. “Jesus, who is the light of world, recreates
you and me to be the light of the world. We cannot create light in ourselves,
but Jesus creates it in us.”

Any good that we do,
any act of integrity, honesty or love, is not us, but Jesus shining within us,
he said. When we use that light to have influence or bring goodness, “it’s
Christ in you, coming out.”

With Christ’s light
shining within us, we are no longer walking in darkness ourselves and other
people can see Christ’s light in us too. We all shine differently, but our goal
should be to surrender and get out of the way, so that Christ’s light can
shine, he said.

Park prayed a prayer
of thanks for God’s word, for God’s light and for God’s love for each one of
us. He prayed a blessing on Spiritual Emphasis Week and on our speaker, Laura
de Jong.

“May your word land in
our hearts and ignite a knowledge of how good and powerful you are,” Park
prayed, “and may you be magnified in us so that your light shines out of our
school.”

Chapel also featured a time of worship. A student praise team led in singing, "Holy -- Wedding Day," "Oceans -- Where Feet May Fail," and "Multiplied."

Park outlined some of
the key features of Spiritual Emphasis Week 2016:

1)Daily Chapel
– We will have chapel every morning at 9. Guests are always welcome. If you can’t
make it but would like to keep in touch with what’s going on, follow the school
blog. Updates will be provided daily.

2)Speaker – Our
chapel speaker will be seminarian Laura de Jong. Laura is in her fourth and
final year at Calvin Theological Seminary and is an alumna of Beacon Christian Secondary
School.

3)Theme –
The messages will be based on passages from the book of Jeremiah. Students are
encouraged to bring their Bibles to chapel.

4)Prayer
Room – Student volunteers are creating this year’s prayer room in the teachers’
lounge: more spacious, but still cozy.

5)The daily
schedule will be messed up – In addition to chapel every morning there will be
a time for discussion each day during period 3.

6)Praise
teams – One of three student praise teams will lead in worship each day.

7)AV –
Student members of the AV crew will be making sure everything looks and sounds
the way it should.

8)Concert on
Friday – Friday afternoon will feature a concert by FM Reset – an all-school
event that replaces the former Girls and Guys Nights Out.

More about Laura de
Jong

Laura de Jong grew up in St. Catharines,
and attended Beacon Christian High School. She studied History, English, and
Congregational Ministry Studies at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan,
where she also led worship and worked in residence life. Laura is finishing up
her Masters of Divinity at Calvin Theological Seminary, and hopes to do church
ministry after graduation. She's a staunch defender of all things Canadian, is
enjoying finally learning how to cook, and believes next year belongs to the
Blue Jays.

Wednesday, 9 November 2016

Antonia Silvini was 12
years old when she began living on the streets.

An orphan, with two
younger siblings, she was being raised by her grandmother, who struggled to
provide for her grandchildren because of her poverty and her age.

Silivini, who is now
in Grade 11 at Smithville Christian High School, spoke at a school chapel
recently, explaining how fending for herself on the streets of Mwanza, a city
in Tanzania, was easier than the hard labour of doing laundry by hand for rich
neighbours.

“Life was so difficult
for me and I started walking around on the streets. I met other children like
me and they taught me how to drink and smoke,” Silivini said. “I didn’t have
anything to do so I started a new life, like those children on the street.”

But her grandmother,
who wasn’t able to feed her, decided that she still wasn’t willing to let her
grandchildren go.

“She looked for people
who were able to help us,” Silvini recalled, arranging to have the director of
a local orphanage take the children in.

At the orphanage, Silvini
stopped smoking, obeyed the rules, and started going to school. More
importantly, “they started to teach me about the word of God, and to pray.

“When I got to the
orphanage, I didn’t know anything about God, but then my life changed.”

Silvini was in Form
Four at school (equivalent to Grade 10) when her education came to an abrupt
halt – there was no more money for school fees.

Instead of giving up,
the teenager “kept my time in prayer and God responded to my prayers.”

Like fellow orphanage resident,
Lau Mussa (read his testimony here), Silvini met Dunnville’s Bethany Ricker and
her uncle, David Emiry, who were in Tanzania in 2015, volunteering at Watoto Wa
Orphanage.

“Through David and
Bethany, God made a way for me to be here in Canada,” Silvini said. “I thank
God that he made a way for me.”

Silivini said she
couldn’t believe that Bethany’s parents in Canada (May Lynne Emiry Ricker and
Brian Ricker, whose children attend Smithville Christian High School) were
willing to host her and make it possible for her to go to school here.

“I was wondering, is
this true or a dream? But I kept praying, because it was so amazing to me.

“And now I am here in
Canada for further education,” pursuing her dream of becoming a nurse. Now
Silvini knows that “God can
make a way for me.

“I love you,” she told
students at Smithville Christian. “Thank you. I am so thankful to be studying
at this school.”

Spiritual Life
Director Gord Park told students that Silvini’s story demonstrates that whatever
their situation, “God is still the God of miracles.” Park said many times God’s
miracles flow through human hearts of love, “and whatever your situation is, no
matter how desperate your situation, just take it to God in prayer.” Just as going
to high school in Canada was beyond Silivini’s wildest dream, he said, “God can
do immeasurably more than we can ever imagine.”

* * *

Chapel also featured a time of worship. A student praise team led in singing "Glory Bound," "I Surrender," and "Tell the World."

We also watched a video to remember the sacrifices made to secure our freedom, and thanked God for the blessing of Canada.

About Me

Smithville Christian High School is a friendly, welcoming place where students of all denominations and all walks of life are impacted daily by the instruction and example of caring Christian teachers. Every day, in every class, students learn that our world belongs to God and they have a role in shaping it for Christ.